Artificial Existence
by The Black Violet
Summary: The crew of the Sanction are ordered to investigate a strange new program recently inserted into the Matrix... (Origional characters, set before 'The Matrix')
1. Chapter One: Chase

Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
01: Chase  
  
On the 7th floor of a large building, two men are eagerly at work. The first man sits at a desk, his long black hair cascading around his face. He wears a black silk shirt, and black jeans, with dark leather boots. The man types information quickly into the computer in front of him. The second man stands at attention in front of the door of the room they inhabit. He holds a Heckler and Koch MP5 sub-machine gun. His long dark coat shifts as he pushes his short black hair behind his ear. The man's dark brown eyes are alert and ready, as he steadily awaits his friend.  
'We've got to get out of here, now, Violet!' Yelled the armed man. Violet turned to face him. 'I know Protocol, just wait, I've almost got it.' Violet turned around again to face the computer console. The display lit up with grey text on a black background:  
  
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:  
  
Connection-Specific DNS Suffix . : AND.System.com.Mat  
Ip Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 138.926.717.0.2.91.0  
  
'There!' Violet yelled to Protocol '138.926.717.0.2.91.0, let's get the hell out of here.  
Protocol turned and ran, Violet followed. Violet and his crew had been sent by Zion command to retrieve the IP address of a dangerous program, just recently entered into the Matrix. Although they were not briefed on the potency of the program, they were aware of the importance of this mission.  
'Protocol,' Violet asked 'Have Server and Binary contacted us yet?'. 'No,' Protocol replied, 'Entry says they were intercepted by a SWAT team at a security junction on level 4, we should probably meet them there.' 'Agreed, let's go. Get Entry to set up an exit near that junction, I want to be out of here as soon as possible.' 'Okay.' Protocol retrieved his Cell phone from the inside pocket of his jacket. 'Entry, we need an exit near the security junction on level 4...okay, we'll be there. What's the status of Server and Binary?.We're on our way there now.' 'What's their status?' Violet asked. 'They're under heavy fire. We have to get there before we draw agent attention. Let's go.'.  
  
Violet and Protocol arrived on the fourth floor in little more than a minute. As the elevator doors slid open, the blur of someone's body flew into the elevator. As the body came to a stop, Violet looked down to see that the body was dressed in the dark blue armor of a SWAT team member. 'I think it's safe to say that Server is definitely down here, captain.' said Protocol as he exited the elevator. Violet followed him and examined the room. It was a small room, about 10 meters in either direction. In the middle stood 4 men dressed in SWAT gear, holding various rifle's. To the right side of the room stood Server. Her long blond hair fell down to her shoulders, where a skin tight leather body suit wrapped around her slim figure. In her gloved hands she held a pair of handguns. On the left side of the room, Binary was crouching, holding a G36 assault rifle. Unlike the rest of their team, Binary was dressed completely in blue. His dark blue shirt flowed down to his blue jeans. The only part of his outfit that was not blue was his boots, which were black.  
'Freeze!' Yelled one of the SWAT member's in the middle. Almost simultaneously, the action happened.  
Protocol dived to a nearby desk that had been pushed over in the fighting. At the same time, Violet spun around behind the wall of the elevator, evading the SWAT team's line of sight. Server dived strait forward, firing both her weapons, hitting two of the SWAT soldiers. As her dive finished, she rolled up to face the third one. Before he could bring his weapon to bear, she rammed the muzzle of her pistol into his stomach and fired a single shot. Straight after, she put a leg onto his falling chest, and jumped backward into a back flip. Half way through the back flip, she fired two shots into the falling man, and landed facing the body. 'Nice of you to make it.' She proclaimed to the two men. Binary walked over to stand by her, and Violet and Protocol also came to meet them. 'It's time to go.' Said Violet 'There's an exit 2 floors down.' 'I don't think we're leaving any time soon' said Protocol beside them, facing the elevator. Standing inside the elevator stood a single man. The man had neat hair, and was wearing dark sunglasses. He wore a black and white suit. He would have looked like your average businessman, if it was not for the pistol in his hand. Violet muttered a single word before all hell broke loose: 'Run'.  
Protocol ran to the left, and Binary to the right, as they had practiced in simulation a million times before. Server flipped over Violet as he started rolling forward. Through the roll, he picked up a pistol that had been dropped on the ground, perhaps by one of the SWAT. By the time Violet had come out of the roll into a crouch, Server was directly behind him, with a rifle in her hands which she must have picked up from the ground. The Agent was seemingly focusing his fire on Binary, who was pinned behind a desk. Protocol, who was to the left of the agent, opened fire with his sub-machine gun. Violet fired a few rounds off from his pistol, and Server literally dived forward with her finger on the trigger, letting off every bullet she could. The Agent tured to fire at Violet, but as he did, Binary stood and began firing from his rifle. The agent tried to dodge the crossfire, but the added fire from all 4 weapons was too much, and he fell back into the elevator, with multiple bullet wounds.  
The four of them ran to the elevator and Violet pressed the button for level 2. The doors began to close, but just as they were almost sealed shut, an arm came between they and held Protocol by the head. Before anyone could raise a weapon, the arm pulled Protocol toward the door. His head hit the door with a loud crack, and blood poured down from his forehead. Violet jammed the end of his pistol through the crack in the door, just above Protocol's head and fired the entire clip. The hand let go and retreated, letting the doors finally close. Protocol fell to the ground with a thump, blood streaming from his forehead. 'Binary, carry him. We've got to get him out before he loses too much blood'. The elevator pinged. They reached the second floor.  
The doors opened, and the room was empty. It was more of a corridor than a room. A long, narrow hallway with door's leading to rooms on either side. There was a faint ringing sound coming from the end of the hallway. Violet ran forward toward the door at the end of the corridor. 'Violet, wait!' Yelled Server, but it was too late. As Violet passed one of the doors, the door shattered and a body flew into Violet. The two bodies fell as the agent landed on top of Violet. The agent pulled a gun to Violet's head, but just as the agent was going to pull the trigger, a boot hit the side of his face and the agent went sprawling. Server continued her attack on the agent, and Violet get to his feet, pulling a pistol from inside his jacket. Server jumped, preparing to land on the agent, but the agent rolled and kicked Server through a doorway.  
Violet aimed and fired two shots from his handgun, but the agent moved with lightning speed and dodged the two bullets before jumping forward and kicking Violet straight in the chest. Violet dropped his gun from the force of the kick, and flew backward, just in front of where Binary stood, holding Protocol. 'Binary, get him out of here!' Yelled Violet, as he flipped up into a fighting stance.  
The agent had turned and was now attacking Server again. Violet saw his chance to get Binary past. He ran toward the agent, and run up the wall. He jumped off and kicked the agent in the side of the head with all the force he could gather, which pushed the agent into one of the other rooms. As soon as Violet landed, Binary rushed past them into the room at the end of the corridor. 'Go!' Said Violet to Server, who started running after Binary. Violet dived and retrieved his pistol.  
Violet ran and stood in the doorway to the exit, where Protocol had already escaped and Binary was exiting. The agent came and ran toward violet, who was hiding the pistol behind him. Violet saw the agent coming forward, and when there was a little more than a meter between them, Violet pulled out the gun and fired all the rounds from it. The agent had no trouble in dodging them all, and as the roar of his gun came to a stop, he heard a voice behind him say 'Duck!'. Violet fell flat on the floor as the roar of machine gun fire enveloped the room. The bullets sprayed above his head, and the agent went down with a loud thud, and then a strange buzz as the body returned to that of a normal civilian.  
Violet got to his feet and turned around to see Server standing behind him with a large rifle in her hands. 'Well, I think it's time to get out of here, commander.'. 


	2. Interlude One: Hackers

Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
Interlude 01: Hackers  
  
Kieran slowly pulled herself from her bed and looked over to her bedside table. The clock on top of the table informed her the time was 8:46. She was going to be late for school. 'Screw it' Kieran whispered to herself, and slumped back into bed, her long golden hair falling down her face. She lay there silently for a few minutes, and her phone started ringing. 'Bloody hell.' she said to herself, heaving her tired body out of bed and dragging it to the other end of the room where the phone sat, eagerly awaiting it's owner.  
'Hello?' Kieran said groggily as she put the handset to her ear. 'Morning sunshine!' an excited voice said on the other end. 'Do you know what time it is, Jason?' Kieran asked angrily to the phone. 'I sure do,' Jason replied '9:12, when can you be at my place by?' 'Damnit Jase,' Kieran angrily responded 'You come here, I'm going to have a shower. Bring your laptop.'. With that, Kieran hung up the phone and went to take her shower.  
  
Jason arrived almost half an hour later, by which time Kieran had just gotten out of the shower. Kieran walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body. It seemed almost immediately as she put a foot out of the bathroom doorway, her doorbell rang. She quickly walked to the front door and opened it for the visitor. Standing in front of her was Jason, his long dark hair going far past his shoulders. 'Come in, go make me coffee, I'll get changed' She said to him briskly, turning around. Jason quickly wrapped his hands around her stomach and said 'Well, aren't we in a hurry?'. Kieran was already frustrated by being woken up, and she turned in his arms and quickly glared at him. He just grinned back and walked into the kitchen.  
Kieran went and got dressed in her usual attire, black blouse, black jeans, and a pair of socks. She tied her hair into a ponytail and went to meet Jason in the kitchen.  
Jason had just finished pouring their coffee when she entered the room. 'So, my dear,' He started in a cheerful voice, 'What's on the menu for today? Hacking into the FBI database?'. Kieran just smiled at his idiotic comment. 'Actually,' Kieran replied, 'I found a restricted access folder in the computer library. It was hidden, I don't even think the library people know it's their, I want to try and brake into that.' 'Well,' Jason replied, amused, 'sounds like we have our work set out for us. I suppose we can get to work soon then?'. Kieran just glared at him again. 'Stop rushing me Damnit, just let me finish my coffee.'. 


	3. Chapter Two: Transmission

Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
02: Transmission  
  
Violet awoke from the matrix almost straight after he put the phone to his ear. Steam, the ship's second operator of his ship, the Sanction, leaned over him. Steam was the only other female on the Sanction, and she was also the only member of the crew with brown hair. It was just above shoulder length and swung around her face as she moved. 'Welcome back, captain.' Steam said as Violet pulled himself to sit up in the cold metal chair. 'What's our status?' Violet asked, groggily, still trying to get a grasp of the real world. The matrix does that to you. 'We're at full speed to a safe location near Zion so we can transmit the IP coordinates you gathered, we should be there in a few days. Entry has been scanning for sentinels in the area, so far, nothing.' Steam informed him, while walking back into the command area. 'Good, keep me updated, I'm going to eat.' Violet replied.  
  
Violet sat in the Mess hall of the ship, sipping on something that Binary quite enjoyed making. He wasn't sure what it was. It was grey and goo like, really quite disgusting looking, but the taste was perhaps better than anything the Matrix could offer.  
The metal door that was the entrance to the cold room creaked loudly as it opened. Violet raised his head from his 'Binary tea' to look at the door. Server walked through the doorway, a bowl of something that was probably equally as disgusting looking as Violet's meal.  
'What's up?' Violet asked, as Server came to sit down at the table with him. 'Not a lot, really. Just thought I'd grab a bite to eat, you know.' Replied Server with noticeable discomfort. 'Well, I'll leave you to it then.' Violet replied, quickly raising from his seat and walking to the door. 'Violet.' Server said quietly 'It doesn't have to be like this.'. Violet turned around and studies server for a second. Her long blonde hair had drifted in front of half her face, hiding one of her eyes, but the other one looked sad, as if longing for comfort. 'Yes, It does.' Violet quietly replied, walking out of the room.  
  
Violet lay in bed, thinking of the words he had said that night. He could remember, back before all this, when Violet and Server were still in the matrix, still unaware of reality. They were only 17 when they were unplugged, and before that, they had been together all the time. They had both been hackers, of course, both been well acquainted, and they had a romantic relationship for a while, but after they were unplugged, a lot changed.  
Violet just couldn't figure out why.  
  
The next morning Violet was up at around 4 AM. He had gotten very little sleep, as usual, and decided to go check on the ship's status.  
As he entered the room, Entry turned around from the operator seat to face him. 'Good morning captain!' Entry said, somewhat excitedly. As long as Violet had known Entry, he had never seen Entry unhappy. Perhaps one of his best qualities, and yet at the same time, it's quite annoying.  
'Morning, Entry.' Violet replied 'Have we transmitted yet?'  
'Yeah, it's been sent. So far, no reply though. We should get it soon, though.' Entry replied.  
  
'Good, keep me updated. I presume everyone else is still sleeping?'  
'I should think so. Steam's shift isn't for another 3 hours, and Protocol is still in the medbay. Why do you ask?'  
  
'No reason, keep me informed, I'll be in the mess hall.'.  
  
Violet entered the mess hall expecting it to be empty. It was quite a small room. A single table, with chairs on either side was in the center of the room. At the back there was the cooking equipment built into the wall. Violet entered the door and noticed Binary was also in the room, bent over the stove, cooking some new unknown recipe. Binary was the only Asian member of the crew, which was quite rare to find, as most of the Asian culture had been wiped out during the first great machine war. He was quite renowned for doing such things.  
'Good morning, Binary.' Violet said. Binary turned and nodded to his captain. Binary was a man of few words, and many talents. Binary wore the usual attire of the crew, which is some poorly put together shirt and pants. The only really noticeable part of Binary's outfit would be his hair, which was shaved to be about a centimetre high from his head, and dyed blue. Binary seemed to have a strange fixation to the colour blue, although nobody was really sure why, and nobody has really asked.  
Violet sat at the table without any food. It was somewhat customary that if you entered the mess hall and binary was present, you don't eat anything unless he offered it to you. This isn't really a big problem, being that Binary is quite an excellent chef.  
After about three minutes or so, Binary put a small bowl in front of Violet. The bowl was filled with a dark green liquid, seemingly some form of soup. 'What's in it?' Violet asked, quite scared to try the stuff. Binary just shrugged in response and sat down opposite violet, his dark brown eyes staring back at Violet's gaze, waiting for him to try the soup.  
Violet looked back down to the bowl and picked up his spoon. He dipped it into the green liquid, and pulled it to his mouth. He smelled the liquid shortly before putting it in his mouth. It didn't seem to have an odour, and that definitely did not help his wishes to drink it. He pulled the spoon to his lips and sipped a small amount from the spoon. At first, Violet could not recall where he had tasted such a thing. It had a unique taste, which he could not identify, but the aftertaste was like that of what the matrix had emulated as chicken soup. It was quite sweet, but was perhaps one of the best real world food's he had ever tasted.  
'This is really good,' Violet exclaimed 'What did you say was in this?' Binary replied quietly 'If I told you, you never would have tried it. Enjoy your meal.' With that, Binary left the room in a hurry.  
Violet stayed and continued eating his soup in silence. Just as he was about to finish the soup, Entry rushed into the door. 'Captain,' Entry said, hurriedly 'We've received the transmission from Zion'. 'Good,' Violet replied 'Maybe they might tell us why the hell we risked our lived for that IP adress now.'  
  
Violet walked into the command room, and sat down at a seat next to the operator console. Entry sat at the console, and began the transmission.  
  
Message sender: Zion command.  
Message receiver: Resistance hovercraft Sanction.  
Channel: Zion direct uplink. (Secure, encoded.)  
  
  
  
Captain Violet,  
  
Firtly, Zion command would like to thank you for risking the lives of you and your crew without any explanation, we are sorry we could not properly brief you on your mission, but we were not aware of the seriousness until now. If you had been informed before hand, the information could have leaked. As such, we are still incapable of properly briefing you on what the cause of receiving the IP address we requested.  
  
Your new orders are to meet your informant at the coordinates below. He will properly brief you on your next task. You may need extra assistance on this task, as such, we have ordered the Valiant to move to your current location, at which time they will be under your temporary command.  
  
Zion command out.  
  
  
  
[Attached: IP Address: 186.990.65.22:01}]  
  
'Entry, prepare for a broadcast, I need an entry point as close to those coordinates as you can get me. Also, your going to need to wake the rest of the crew. Myself and Binary are going to go to those coordinates, I don't intend on starting the mission until Protocol is healed.' Violet ordered, walking out of the room. 'Yes captain, we should be at broadcast capability in a few minutes.' Entry replied, turning back to his console.  
  
No more than 10 minutes later, Entry and Steam sat at the operator seats of the command room, with Violet, Binary, and Server preparing for entry. When they were seating, Steam walked over preparing to plug them in. 'Okay, you guys know what to do. Steam, plug us in'. Steam pushed the cable end into the back of the chair, and Violet entered the matrix once again. 


	4. Chapter 3: Entry

Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
03: Entry  
  
Violet looked around. The whole team had jacked in already. The teams entry point was a bedroom in a small urban house. They quickly exited the house, and Server pulled out her cell phone. 'Where to?' Server asked to Entry, who was onboard the Sanction as operator. Server waited a few seconds, then put the phone back into her pocket. 'Down to the end of this street, there should be a park,' Server said briskly 'The informant is sitting on a bench, he responds to the question "I wonder who programmed this apple".'. Violet raised an eyebrow but said nothing and began walking down the street. It seemed to be your average suburban street, rows of houses on either side.  
They didn't take long to get to the end of the street, where Binary and Server waited. Violet examined the park from where they were standing. It was surrounded on three sides by wooden fences. The bench stood out clearly in the center, but it did not stand out nearly as much as the person sitting at it. He wore a dark black shirt with even darker jeans. He looked very out of place. There was assorted play equipment around the park, but none of it was currently being used.  
Violet walked over to the man at the bench. 'Do I really have to say that silly password?' Violet asked to the man. The informant looked up, and with a slight grin on his face he replied 'I'm not sure what your talking about, sir.'. Violet sighed and picked up the apple sitting on the bench. 'I wonder,' Violet began, 'Who programmed this apple.' the man at the bench grinned even wider, and put out his hand 'I'm Jonus, your informant of the day,' He said, quickly, 'We've not much time, so I'll try to explain all of this to you as fast as I can. Zion needs a crew to hunt down a potentially deadly program recently inserted into the Matrix. This program, codenamed 'Parisite', is capable of warping the code of the matrix within a certain radius from his body. Because of this, he can stop bullets from hitting him, and create a shield from anything you throw at him. Because of the nature of this ability, he is unable to modify anything that is not part of the original matrix program, making anyone who is unplugged immune to his ability.'. Violet nodded, realizing that he was in a lot deeper than he had originally thought.  
When Violet had been given order's to receive the Ip coordinates, he knew that the mission had to be pretty important. Busting into a high tech security company is something that he liked to think Zion command tried to avoid. What was even more confusing about the mission, was that the IP address he had discovered led them to a seemingly irrelevant location inside the Matrix. It was now quite obvious to Violet that the IP must lead to the source of the Parasite, or something to do with that. He also now realized why his crew had been chosen for the assignment. Most hovership crew's don't worry about combat drills or formation's, but it's something that Violet has always made his crew's endure. Because of this, their combat efficiency is way above that of any other crew, and they are also the only crew to have four agent terminations, which is something amazing on it's own.  
'Are you listening to me?' Jonus asked. 'Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking, please, continue.' Violet replied. 'Okay,' Jonus started, 'Now, the IP adress you retrieved for us was the last murder scene of the virus, we want you to investigate there first. We are well aware that your first officer is currently under medical treatment, so we need you to do the investigation without him.' 'I'm afraid I can't do that,' Violet replied, 'I don't feel safe bringing my people into a hostile situation without my full crew. Most ships have seven or eight people capable of jacking in, whilst my crew has four. I would ask that we be able to wait until Protocol has healed before we continue.'. Jonus sighed, then said 'I understand your predicament, captain, but those are direct orders from Zion, there's nothing I can do.  
'Alright,' Violet said, 'when can we expect the arrival of the Valiant?' 'They should reach you in a few days, but we want you to start without them.' 'Alright, we'll start immediately, is there anything else?' 'Just one more thing. If you are in need of weapons, there is a weapon stockpile here' Jonus handed him a piece of paper with an IP address on it. 'Good luck,' Jonus said, standing, 'and be careful.' with that, Jonus started walking down the street. Violet shoved the piece of paper in his pocket and walked over to the rest of his crew.  
'Well?' Server asked as Violet reached the group, 'Where to, captain?' 'Firstly we go to these coordinates, get Entry to track them. I'll explain everything on the way' Violet replied, handing the piece of paper to Server.  
Entry quickly tracked the coordinates to a small building in a nearby city. It usually wouldn't have taken long to just hotwire a car and drive there, but Violet insisted one finding one he thought was nice. They eventually got under way, and Violet explained to the other two crew members what he had been told by Jonus.  
  
They arrived at the weapon's storage area in half an hour. The coordinates that they had followed had lead them to a small concrete building. It had only one room, with a wide array of weaponry. Pistols, Rifle's, submachine guns, it was all there. Violet decided to arm himself with two small MP5K submachine guns, and a pair of Baretta 9-mm pistols. He also strapped a Spas-12 shotgun over his back.  
Server decided for much smaller weaponry, arming herself with four Colt M1911 .45 pistols, two Micro-uzi submachine guns, and two Steyr TMP automatic pistols. Server also decided to carry a FAMAS assault rifle in her hands.  
Binary's weaponry was probably the lightest in the group. He carried two Smith and Wesson .44 Magnums, one MP5 submachine gun, and a katana strapped to his back. He was also the only one of them to be carrying a close combat weapon.  
They all decided to put on Kevlar under their respective clothing. They were almost ready to leave when Violet's phone rang. 'Hello?' Violet answered. 'It's Entry. I thought you should know, Protocol should be ready to move in a few hours, do you want to jack-out and wait for him?' Entry said, over the phone. Violet thought for a moment 'No, we're going to go without him,' he responded, 'when he's recovered, get him to meet us at the second IP address.' 'Okay,' Entry responded, 'Good luck, captain.' The phone clicked to indicate the call had ended. 'Alright,' Violet said to his team, 'Protocol going to join us in a few hours, let's go.' The team moved through the door, into the car.  
  
The coordinates they had been sent to were a small house on the other side of the city. The house had a small front yard, and by the look of the plants, nobody had been paying attention to the yard for a while. The house was off white on the outside, with a small, white door and two windows either side. 'Quaint.' Remarked Server, walking behind Violet up to the door. Inside was quite simply boring. There were no signs of struggle, nothing to indicate that anything had gone wrong there. That was true, until they finally reached the bedroom. The walls were dark red, but only in one corner. Where the red of the walls faded, there was blue wallpaper. The red was seemingly blood, yet there was no body anywhere. There was a large bed in the center of the room, also covered in blood. At first, Violet couldn't figure out why there was no body. Then it hit him. There were small chunks of meat and flesh all over the place. The walls, the floor, the bed, it was all covered in the remains of a body.  
The three of them left the house almost immediately. 'Shit.' Server proclaimed, as she breathed heavily, leaning on the fence outside the house. Binary seemed somewhat unaffected from the experience, yet Binary rarely showed emotion. Violet, on the other hand, was rather unsettled, but he made sure not to show it. When the captain is shown as troubled, it can make the crew less effective, and he knew that quite well, and, as such, was seemingly emotionless to the experience. He just repeatedly told himself in his head it wasn't real. 'Alright, guys,' Violet said to the others, 'let's pull it together. Server, get a hold of Entry and Steam, get them to trace the last known program in this house. Binary, patrol the surrounding area, I don't want him sneaking up on us. I'm going to try and find more information on the person who was killed in there.'  
  
The group did as they were told, and they returned back to the front of the house in little under 15 minutes. Server had received the traced IP from Entry, and they had hunted down the rogue program to a large mansion in the countryside near the city they were in. Binary had detected no danger in the immediate vicinity either, so they were seemingly safe.  
'Okay,' Violet began, 'the victim was a 32 year old man, and he was also a very good hacker. His name was Jacob Freeman, and his hacker alias was Golem. He wasn't married, and seemingly lived a pretty lonely life. Have Steam check the Zion database for any hackers by that name and see if they were due to be unplugged. Server, your driving, let's get to those new coordinates.' they all got in the car and began their journey to the mansion. 


	5. Chapter 4: Mansion

--The mad jester: Thanks for your comments, I'm glad you approve. I really do with there were more Matrix fans around, the whole Matrix universe just has so much potential for stuff like this. Oh well, keep reading, and thanks for your honest opinion!  
  
Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
04: Mansion  
  
The car slowly pulled up in front of the mansion, and already Violet was unsure about the mission.  
The mansion was surrounded by a massive brick wall with a large iron gate at the front. The gate was closed but seemingly unlocked. The brick walls were covered with rows of spikes, and Violet wasn't too sure that they were just there for decoration. Just behind the gate a small path made from rocks put into the ground began, which stretched up the large garden to the front door of the mansion.  
The mansion itself looked like a death trap. It was at least three stories high, and the walls were completely black. Where the first floor ended, the second started, but there was a small balcony like area in front of the second floor. That same design was used for the third floor. Their were small square windows arranged around all the floors, and at the front of the mansion there was a massive door, at least 3 meter's high. The wooden door had two metal handle's attached to the front.  
'Are you sure this is the place?' Server asked, hoping that they'd made a mistake. Violet just nodded contently, and got out of the car. The trio walked up to the iron gate. Violet shoved the gate with his hand, and yet it refused to open for him. Server walked back a small bit and sprinted at the gate. About a meter before the gate, Server leaped into the air and did a complete flip, managing to push herself over the gate and land on the other side. 'Impressive,' Said Violet, 'You know, we could have just knocked?' Server just ignored him and pulled down a large metal lever on the other side of the gate, making the gate slowly pull itself open. The three walked inside.  
They walked up the long, stone pathway, which was decorated by gargoyles and statues on the sides of the path. During the daylight, it might have looked quite nice, but on a night like this, Violet couldn't say he was really happy to see that he was being watched by the stone sentries. Server didn't seem to be to happy about it either. There was something about the statues, they just gave of a strange feeling. Violet ignored the strange feeling and continued down the path.  
'You feel that, don't you?' Asked Server. Violet nodded in reply and stepped up the steps to the front door. They must have looked like a pretty odd group. Violet wore his usual black shirt and black leather jacket. His pistols were in the inside of his jacket, whilst the MP5K's he was carrying were strapped to his pants, and his shotgun was on his back. Server had decided on skin tight, dark purple latex suit, with an even darker leather trench coat. All four of her pistols were hidden inside the coat, two at her waist, two at her thigh's. The Micro Uzi's were strapped behind her, and the two Steyr TMP's were strapped to her shoulders, as her FAMAS rifle was held limply in her hands. Binary was wearing a ridiculous looking navy blue trench coat, with lighter blue shirt and pants underneath. None of his array was visible, so he was really the only innocent looking person in the group, but then, Violet wasn't too worried about looking innocent when he's meeting a murderous program who's gone rogue and started killing off the human race.  
Violet knocked on the door hard. The second he did, they heard a great rumbling behind them. The three of them spun around in unision, and behind them they saw something that they would only ever believe in the Matrix.  
Slowly waking from their sleep, they stone gargoyles arose from their crouching positions, slowly stretching. Server stepped in front of the group and pulled up her rifle. The assault rifle gave off a short, three- round burst into the closest of the eight gargoyles. The stone chipped away off the gargoyles chest as the bullet's impacted onto his stone skin. It slowly turned to look at server, who fired another burst, which also had little effect on the stone creature. It spread it's wings and leaped toward the group. Binary and Violet jumped to opposite sides of the garden as the gargoyle went flying into Server at an amazing speed. Server hit the door with a loud thud. Violet rolled into a crouch as he came out of his dive, and quickly swung the shotgun around to face the stone monstrosity. He pumped the shotgun, and fired off a single shot. The metal pellet's hit stone flesh, taking a massive chunk of the gargoyles left wing away. Violet pumped the shotgun fired again as the gargoyle turned, and this time the shotgun took away the creature's left forearm. Violet stood up, and pumped his shotgun, walking toward the stunned creature, who was looking in shock at the loss of his arm. Violet got within about two meters before the creature looked up at him with dark, stone eyes. Violet pulled the shotgun to the gargoyles face and fired, knocking it away. He then jumped up and kicked the body to the ground.  
On the other side of the garden, Binary was not doing nearly as well. After diving, he had pulled out his pair of .44 revolvers. They only carried eight bullets each, but the powerful pistols did a lot more damage then Servers rifle. As the first gargoyle leaped off server, he saw another one closing in on her. He fired a single bullet from the first pistol to pull the gargoyles attention, but it did much more than that. At the amazingly loud sound, the pistol took the attention of another, much closer gargoyle, who started advancing at Binary. Binary pulled his second gun in it's direction and fired, punching a massive hole through it's shoulder. A split second later he fired a shot from the alternative weapon, which hit the first creature in the thigh. The gargoyle stumbled at the loss of his upper leg, and eventually fell to the ground with a loud thud, and started dragging itself with it's claws. Binary figured he could deal with that one later, and pulled both weapons to the second gargoyle. He fired off another 4 shots, two from each gun. The bullet's managed to knock off one of the gargoyle's arms and punch two massive holes in it's chest. Binary ran and jump kicked the stone sentinel, and as it landed he pulled the trigger one more time, knocking the creatures head away. He still had four bullets in each gun, and only spent two knocking out his second opponent, bringing him down to 3 bullets per gun. He looked over to see Violet close in on his target and fire a shotgun blast into it's head. The two ran back to the stairs to cover Server.  
Server had regained her strength, and had pulled her FAMAS rifle into a shouldered position, switching it into automatic fire mode. Violet yelled to them 'Binary, watch our left, Server, you cover the right, I've got point.' The three complied, turning their weapons in the respective directions. Three of the gargoyle warriors had been taken down, leaving five more. The first thing Violet heard was the roar of Server's FAMAS. She emptied the remaining bullets from her gun into a gargoyle that had been trying to sneak near them at the right. The bullets impacted the gargoyle, yet it managed to keep moving toward them. 'Shit' Server proclaimed, literally throwing her rifle at the gargoyle and pulling out her TMP pistols, and switching them to full-automatic fire. Server Ran forward, straight at the gargoyle, emptying her bullet's into it. Each gun went empty in a few seconds, but the gargoyle was also left in pieces. She holstered the weapons and picked up her rifle, popping in a new clip.  
Violet had no trouble defending the front. Of the five remaining Gargoyles, only two had attacked from the front. The shotgun was down to one more shell by the time he had taken out the first gargoyle, at which point the destroyed the second one with one of his MP5K sub-machine guns at close range, taking out the gargoyle quite effectively. He noticed Binary still had not fired a shot, and yet, he could not see the other gargoyles in the garden. Server ran back to the group, carrying her rifle. 'This things gone,' Server proclaimed, throwing the rifle to the ground, 'I also used up my TMP ammo, all I've got left are pistols and the micro Uzi's.' Violet nodded, standing. 'It looks like they've spread out around the mansion,' He informed them, 'Stick together, lets find these things.' The team nodded, and Violet started slowly creeping to the right side of the garden, keeping his back to the wall. He kept sliding in silence until he heard a muffled sound behind him.  
Violet spun around, aiming his rifle at the sound. Where the sound had originated, stood Binary, with a Gargoyle holding on tightly to his arm. 'Damnit, I cant get a shot!' Yelled Violet, running forward. The stone monster was hiding himself behind Binary struggling body, who couldn't move because of the grip the creature had on his arm and shoulder. 'I got this.' said Server, mainly to herself, raising one of her M1911 pistols. She aimed carefully and pulled the trigger. The bullet flew forward, penetrating the Gargoyles left shoulder, which shuddered, giving Binary control of his arm. Binary quickly spun around, and as he did it, swung his katana from it's sheath, swiping downward and dislodging the gargoyles right arm. Violet then dived forward with the shotgun, and fired a shot as Binary leaped away. The shotgun blasted knocked away the gargoyles chest, and it fell to the ground, destroyed.  
'Well.' Said Server, 'that was fun.' Binary brushed himself off and looked at her for a second, then walked down and said 'We should contunue'. His thickly chinese accented voice was hard to understand, and yet, Violet and Server could just tell. Perhaps that happens when you've been around someone for so long. The three nodded in agreement, and Violet led the way through the dark, to hunt down their foe. 


	6. Chapter 5: Hunted

Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
05: Hunted  
  
They reloaded their respective weapons as they moved around the garden in silence. Violet took the lead, which he thought was logical, being that his shotgun had done the most damage to the stone guardians. Server was in the middle of the small line, and Binary held up the rear.  
They had slowly creeped along the front side of the mansion, sticking to the wall as much as possible. Only one gargoyle remained, and Violet was positive that they were the key to entering the mansion. He figured sticking to the wall gave the gargoyle one less direction to come from, and yet still their chances were slim. Even if the wall did block of that path of attack, the fact still remained that the gargoyle could not only fly, but was strong enough to avoid damage from all but their best weaponry, and even then it wasn't easy to fell the beasts.  
Violet slowly leaned his head around the corner, and he immediately felt a sharp pain in his head. 'Shit.' He whispered to nobody in particular as the stone creature picked him up by the head and literally threw him a few meters away, making him drop the shotgun to the ground. Server rolled around the corner, bringing her Micro Uzi submachine guns to bear on the gargoyle. Before she could pull the trigger, the stone giant pounced on top of her, pushing her to the ground by her shoulders. She fell backward, and dropped both the guns. Server moved his hands to pull out the magnums, but they were no longer in their holsters, as he had dropped them both when the gargoyle had attacked him earlier. He swore to himself under his breath and dived forward, picking up one of the micro Uzi's. He rolled over at the end of his dive, and found himself next to Server, who was being choked by the monster on top of her. Binary pushed his weapon at the gargoyles neck, so that the spray wouldn't hit Server, and pulled the trigger.  
The gargoyles neck shattered, throwing pieces of rock everywhere. The creatures head fell away, landing only an inch or two away from Servers head. Server managed to roll away before the rest of the gargoyles broken body fell on her, but stayed lying on the ground trying to regain her breath. Only seconds later Violet ran over to the other two, as to check on their status. Binary seemed fine, but Server had large purple bruises on her neck from the gargoyles attack. He flinched at the injuries, but overcame the urge to drop to his knee's and try and comfort her. Had the circumstances been different, maybe.  
Violet looked around the garden. The remains of all the gargoyles had strangely disappeared, and Violet hoped that now the doors to the mansion were open. Server stood next to him and whispered 'I'm fine, thanks.' Violet ignored her and turned to face his companions. 'Okay guys,' Violet started, 'Get your weapons, and lets move out.'  
  
They returned to the front door in little time. As Violet had expected, the doors had opened by simply pushing them. What he had not expected was the look of the inside of the mansion. The hall that they entered into was huge, and also brightly decorated. The floor was white and black marble, as was the large staircase in the middle of the room leading to the top floor. The walls were white brick, and were decorated with large paintings. On top of the marble floor was a red carpet, that rolled outward toward the center of the room, and then split to go around the large table that was in the middle of the room. The carpet rejoined after the table to go up the stairs, where it split off into either direction. The table in the middle was decorated with Candelabras and assorted cutlery and plates. Hanging from the roof was a huge chandelier, that seemed to be the only light source of the room. The first floor had four doors. One at each side of the flight of stairs, and the other two on either wall. At the top of the stairs, the carpet split both left and right, leading to another two doors. There was also a large double door at the top of the stairs. Against the railing of the second floor, there were two large cabinets, and on either side of the top of the stairs stood two large, golden statues of what looked like men dressed in robes, except their heads were heads of snakes. The golden statues held very large scythes in their hands.  
The doors slammed closed behind the trio. Server turned and tried to push them open again, but they refused to move. There was another loud bang as the double doors at the top of the stairs were slammed open by a large man. He was about 6 feet tall, and wore a long, golden robe. Unlike the statues that wore the same clothing, the man had a normal, human head, but there was nothing human about the man. He began walking down the flight of stairs, but as he walked past the statues, they came to life and marched behind him in unison.  
The man reached the bottom of the stairs, and sat at the end of the large table. The two statues stood behind the chair, completely still, as if they had never moved at all. 'Please,' said the robed man, 'take a seat, I'm sure you could use it.' The man waved his hand, palm upward, toward the seats at the opposite end of the table. The trio stood completely still. 'Suit yourselves,' said the man, 'I trust you came here looking for the rogue program then?' Violet simply nodded at the man. 'Yes, as I thought,' The man continued, 'I am Mozart, and these are my guards, the Serpents, and I am afraid that the rogue program is no longer your concern.' 'And why might that be?' Asked Violet. Mozart smirked. 'Ahh, so you can speak, eh?' He said smugly, 'The program you call Parasite is no longer your concern simply because he is mine, and, as such, completely under my control. You no longer need to worry yourselves.' Violet did not find this as good news. Mozart had already shown himself to be a powerful program. If he can create the gargoyle sentries and the two golden statues, who knows what he could do with something as powerful as Parasite.  
'I'm afraid,' Violet said, slowly, 'that you are going to have to let us have him. I've got direct orders to terminate him.' Mozart nodded, and then replied 'That's a shame, because I'm keeping him, and there is nothing you can do about it.' The doors behind the trio opened on their own, as if they had just decided to open themselves for no reason. 'Now,' Said Mozart, 'Run along, I've no time for your foolish games.' The three of them didn't move a muscle. Mozart stood up and sighed. 'That really is a shame,' Said Mozart, walking up the stairs, without his golden guards, 'As if you refuse to leave, my associates here will have to throw you out.' At the end of Mozart's sentence, the statues slammed their scythes hard on the ground. Violet pumped his shotgun, and the sentries began slowly marching around either side of the table.  
Violet opened fire with a single shot, which hit the golden warrior directly in the snake-like head. The pellets from the shotgun blast imbedded themselves in the gold metal, yet seemingly had no effect on the creature. Violet ran forward and jumped up onto the table, running forward to try and get behind the creatures. Server and Binary also ran either side, trying to get into a formation where they could set up a successful crossfire.  
Binary pulled out his MP5, and Server retrieved her Uzi's. 'Left first!' Server yelled, and the three of them simultaneously aimed their weapons on one of the statues. Server was the closest to the golden warrior, and opened fire immediately. The bullets had no effect on the statue, and still the statue continued its advance as Violet jumped off the table and opened fire with the shotgun. By the time Binary had opened fire, the statue had gotten to about 4 meters away from Server and Violet. His added fire from the MP5 still had no effect. Server put her pistols back in their holsters and went to run up the stairs. Violet looked back to see what she was doing, and rage overcame him as she was seemingly running away from the enemy. He would not be defeated so easily. He dropped the shotgun and ran forward, to engage the golden guardian in close combat. Binary also came to join him. Violet reached the statue first, and quickly ducked to avoid getting chopped in half by the giant scythe. As he knelt down, he swept out his foot in an attempt to trip the Serpent. The kick had no effect either, and the warriors scythe stopped almost an inch from Violets face. Violet looked up to see that the Scythe had been stopped by Binary's katana, and now the Serpent and Binary were giving each other deadly glares. Violet took the opportunity, and quickly placed his boot on the Statues thigh, pushing away and back flipping into a standing position.  
Violet ran forward and placed a jumping kick right into the statue, which did not move an inch from the attack. The Serpent swung its scythe upward, trying to stab Violet, who quickly jumped backward. Binary saw the opening in the golden warriors defence and slashed the warrior in the torso. The blade of the katana embedded itself into the warrior, and Binary was unable to get it free before having to jump backward to avoid getting decapitated by the statues large blade. As the serpent went to slash at Binary a second time, the back of the scythe handle flew directly into Violets face, sending him flying onto the stairs. Binary took a few seconds to see the fate of his captain, and turned just in time to see the Statue slash at him again. Binary back flipped, landing his hands on the large wooden table in the center, and then jumped off his hands again to dodge the scythe of the second statue, who tried to slash him from the other side of the table. Binary landed on shoulder of the second golden warrior, and quickly jumped back, landing on the opposite side on the room. The it hit him. 'Where's Server?' 


	7. Interlude two: Interweave

Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
Interlude 02: Interweave  
  
Kieran and Jason sat at their respective computers, typing at lightning speeds. They had been trying to access the restricted files that Kieran had found for hours. Kieran had found the restricted files in a hidden folder at the local library. It had taken enough effort to even find the restricted folder that Kieran was completely convinced that there was no way the library staff had known the files existed. Because of that simple fact, Kieran was intent on getting access to the files.  
Jason, on the other hand, had started the job quite unenthusiastically, but his level of commitment to his 'skill' was enough to keep him trying. The harder the task got, the more compelled Jason became to complete the task at hand. They had started the job at around 9:30 AM, and it was now one o' clock. Jason happily exclaimed the time, and then also mentioned that lunch sounded like a very good idea, to him, at least. The two of them decided to take a break and go get some food.  
  
They sat, quite contently, in Kieran's kitchen. Jason had made himself a cheese and ham sandwich, one of his favourite things to eat. Kieran sat on the opposite side of the small table, biting slowly into her apple, her other hand resting on the keyboard of her laptop. 'You know,' Jason began, breaking the silence, 'when I suggested we have lunch, I was also thinking that perhaps we could, you know, stop this whole hacking thing and actually do something normal, but here you are, still devoted.' Kieran only nodded, not listening a word he said, intently staring at the screen of her computer. Jason sighed, giving up all hope of a decent conversation with Kieran. Kieran and Jason had been dating on and off for over a year now. It seems every time they finally pull their relationship together, it falls apart as Kieran discovers some new mega-virus, or another top secret government agency with poor internet security lockouts. Once Kieran is focused on a task, there is just no time in her mind for anything else, including any boyfriend she may have at the time. Because of this, Jason just wasn't sure how to keep up a relationship with her.  
'Sure would like some attention over here.' Jason muttered, trying to get just that little bit of acknowledgement that would keep him satisfied for the next few minutes. So far, it wasn't working, as Kieran still said nothing and just stared at the screen, typing something in every now and then. There was no doubt it Jason's mind that Kieran was the better hacker of the two, but he was always a social person, something that Kieran had yet to master. Jason thought that that was probably why he and Kieran got along so well. Her devotion to her many projects gave him a break from his social commitments, which is something he needed now and then. Sadly, the only social commitment he tries to keep, never seems to hold up. 


	8. Chapter 6: Rescue

Azrael the Jackdraw: Thanks for your comments, keep reading!  
  
Artificial Existence  
By Christopher Harrison  
  
06: Rescue.  
  
Violet hit the stairs. His head impacted on the corner of a step, and Violet lost all sense of vision. The pain from his back hitting the stairs was almost nothing compared to when his left arm impacted, his shoulder dislocating on impact. Violet sat there in silence. He wanted to get up, wanted to help Binary, but the pain was too severe. He couldn't carry on. He could feel the warm touch of blood trickling down the back of his neck, presumably from the impact of the stairs. He was also bleeding from the mouth, where the statue had hit him. He was going to black out soon. He would fail. As he was slipping away into unconsciousness, he heard a large explosion sound. He could not gather the strength to look up at the sound. A few seconds later, he blacked out.  
Server entered the room, carrying the grenade launcher. She fired at the golden warrior furthest away from Binary. The grenade hit the statue square in the face, and exploded. The explosion rocked the room. The statue flew into the wall. Pieces of brick shattered from the impact of the golden giant. Server jumped down the stairs, and upon landing she inspected her prey. The serpent had dropped his scythe when it was hit by the grenade, and it had also lost it's head and much of it's chest and shoulders. The table had also flown into the opposite side of the room to the statue. While Binary had leaped away, and was standing near the double doors, the second statue was pushing the table off of him. Mozart had seemingly left the room before the fighting began. Server fired twice. The first grenade hit the statue in the chest, and, as it was already against the way, the bricks shattered violently, as shrapnel went everywhere. Along with the damage to the well, the table literally exploded, throwing shards of wood everywhere. The second grenade hit just near the statues feet, and the golden warrior flew upward, hitting the roof and dropping back down, cracking the already shattered marble floor.  
Binary retrieved his sword and Server ran over to Violet, who still lay on the stairs, unconscious. A puddle of crimson blood cascaded down the stairs below his limp body. Once he arrived, Binary spoke quickly but slowly 'I'll hunt down Mozart, you've got to get him to an exit.' Binary began walking up the stairs, but Server held his arm 'It's okay, I'll hunt him down, you take Violet back!' Server protested, but Binary shook his head 'No, your out of weapons, you take him.' Binary continued his ascent up the stairs. Server looked down at Violet, slowly slipping her arms around his shoulders and waist. 'Damnit,' She whispered to herself, 'You'd better be okay.'  
  
Protocol jacked in. He had only recently gotten out of the med bay. Entry had told Protocol to get some rest before jacking back in, but after seeing the situation the team was in, he decided that this was not a time for rest. Protocol's entry point had been inside the armoury that the team had originally received their weapons, so Protocol decided to pick up some equipment before he left. He carried a M4A1 Assault rifle, a pair of Glock 18 automatic pistols, and strapped to his back was a flamethrower. He also had two wrist sheath's which held identical 12" daggers.  
As soon as Protocol had his equipment, he quickly hijacked a nearby car and sped off to the coordinates of the mansion.  
  
Binary proceeded up the stairs of the main room and took the large double doors at the center. He pushed the doors open, to find a long corridor. The floor, walls, and roof were all black and white marble, much like a chess or checkers board. Binary would have proceeded immediately, but something didn't feel right. He stepped forward once. Nothing happened. He stepped again, bringing him onto a white square. The square depressed under the weight of his foot. Binary heard a click from the right wall, directly level with his head. He leaned back quickly as a bullet whizzed past. "Shit" Binary whispered softly to himself. The word echoed down the corridor. Binary took another step forward, onto a black tile, and like the last, nothing happened. Binary retrieved one of his revolver's from inside his jacket, and dropped the gun onto the next white square. As the square depressed, a click similar to the one before was heard and a large metal spike came out from the roof and down onto the white square, destroying the handgun. Binary stepped onto the patch of white that the spike had hit. From that point, there were 3 more squares, three of which were white. He stepped onto the adjacent black square, and studied the next piece of floor. The white square on the floor seemed to have nothing special about it, and the roof seemed relatively normal as well. Upon close inspection of the walls, he noticed that there was a tiny crack in either side, going straight down. The cracks were about one millimetre in diameter, and covered the entire area. Binary carefully put his foot down on the tile, keeping his body on the black tile. He depressed the tile in front of him with his foot, and a large guillotine came down from the roof at an amazing speed. At the same time, the spike from the previous white square retracted back into the ceiling. The following two white squares featured a flamethrower and an array of blades, both of which Binary was able to avoid, until he stepped through the door at the end of the corridor.  
Binary walked into the new room. The floor now changed from marble to highly polished wood, and the walls and roof kept with this fashion. In the middle of the room was an old desk with a large leather chair behind it. The far wall held a massive window looking out into the night sky. The entire room would have looked relatively normal, we're it not for the added extra's. The first thing Binary noticed when he entered was the blood. It was everywhere. The window, the wall's, the desk and the chair were drenched in blood, most likely the blood of the occupant of the large leather chair. Binary recognized it as Mozart judging by the shape and size of the body. His facial features were covered in blood, and there was a large gaping hole, the size of a fist, in his chest. Binary looked to his left a right. The room was otherwise empty, and the door to his right was open.  
He ran through the door, and looked around. This room was exactly the same as the one before it, but longer, and three of the golden serpent warrior's were fighting a large man. He was about six feet tall, with pale, bluish skin. He wore the suit of a medieval ninja, and carried a long sword, which glowed a blue tint. Impaled on the glowing sword was one of the serpent warriors, and the other two were closing in from the other sides. The blue man moved like lightening. As one of the serpents swung it's scythe, the blue man retracted his sword, ducked, and and shoved the sword into the attacking serpents chest. The scythe from the attacking serpent swung around and hit the third serpent in the head. Using this to his advantage, the blue warrior removed his sword from the golden statue and back-flipped over the third and final serpent. As he landed, the Blue ninja sliced straight down the third statue, cutting it in equal halves.  
Binary slowly stepped to face the ninja warrior. The blue man turned, examining Binary. The ninja spoke in a somewhat high voice, and it was then that Binary realized that he was actually looking at a woman. "You are unplugged." the Ninja stated, quietly, "You would do well to leave, as you are not my prey." Binary just nodded. "You are the one known as Parasite?" Binary asked. The Ninja just nodded at the question. Binary pulled his sword from his sheath. "Then, I'm afraid I'm going to have to delete you." Binary said slowly, pulling himself into a fighting stance. The Ninja said nothing, and moved into a similar stance. Binary jumped forward, raising his katana for a vertical slash. Parasite rolled sideways, barely dodging Binary's blade. Binary tried to slash at Parasite, but she quickly rolled forward and flipped to stand. Binary spun around to once again face his opponent, who was already running toward him. Parasite sliced horizontally, trying to take Binary's head. Binary tried to block the blow, but Parasite's sword sliced right through Binary's blade, and he very barely dodged the attack by back flipping around. As Binary came out of the flip, Parasite tried to stab at his chest. Binary quickly side-stepped the attack, and elbowed the virus square in the face, sending her flying into a nearby wall. Parasite quickly spun her legs, and hit the wall feet first, using her momentum to flip off back to the ground. She stood up and glared at Binary. "You cannot win this, human." Said the virus, in an angry tone. Binary said nothing, yet he knew her words were true. Parasite ran forward. Binary knew he was going to die now. Without a weapon, he could not hope to defeat her. She was almost within striking distance when a barrage of gunfire opened from the room in which Binary had entered. Parasite jumped away, to the far end of the room, and sheathed her sword. 'You've not seen the last of me!' She yelled, and jumped away through the window. Binary turned to see the source of the gunfire. Standing in the doorway was a tall man in a dark coat, with slicked back hair. Standing besides the man were two slightly taller men dressed all in silver, with silver dreadlocks in front of their identical pale white faces. The silver men both held a small pistol in their left hands. The shorter man spoke in a deep French accent 'Well, well,' He said, 'it seems we came just in time. Who do I 'ave to thank for Mister Mozart's demize?' 


End file.
